Mum blogger Jessica Offer is a mother to four daughters and knows what it’s like to be constantly busy.
The outspoken mum has previously written about what it’s like to be judged for being a younger mother and now she’s tackling another interesting subject – family mealtime bonding.
Jessica writes in a post for Kidspot: “The importance of ‘family mealtime bonding‘ is something that is spouted all over mainstream media. Images of families sitting down together to an elaborately prepared meal, with scintillating conversation and beautifully behaved children who actually sit in their seats the entire time and eat the food in front of them.”
Needless to say, we all know that this image of perfection doesn’t exist. Although we strive to enjoy our family meals, it doesn’t always work out that way.
From fussy eaters to epic tantrums and dirty looks thrown around the table, we’ve all had our share of disastrous family dinners. After all, this is what real family life looks like.
Sometimes our dinner plans go so awry, that we end up scrapping the planned meal and feeding the kids sandwiches.
Jessica can sympathise. She says: “Before we actually get to the sitting down at the table part there is the ten-minute battle to get children to wash their hands and then be in the same room at the same time.
“What follows next is the negotiations over seating arrangements, cutlery and crockery. Then there’s the hunt for the water bottles which need to be at the table for all meal times.
“What you would assume to follow next would be that simply the children just ate their food, right?” Jessica asks.
Well, we all know it’s not THAT straightforward.
“What actually happens is one child complains about the contents of their plate, the next child shoves away their food in disgust, the toddler gets up (and down, and up, and down) to find a pencil (wtf?) and then another child inhales her food so fast that she is ready to ask for seconds before I have even sat down.”
Yup, we’ve all been there! Let’s face it, how many times have you had to wait till the meal was actually over before you could scrape some leftovers together for yourself?
And why is it that the dinner table acts as some form of mediation centre where siblings air all their petty arguments?
We love Jessica’s hilarious advice to “drown out the chaos with a glass of wine or shove peas into your ears to act as a makeshift earplug to dull the cacophony.”
We may just have to take that advice next time!
